"102 candles? Lady, do you want to burn the place down?" she said at her birthday celebration Thursday afternoon at Sterling House of Loveland

Berquist turned 102 on July 12 in the year 2012.

During her life she saw presidents come and go. She saw the invention of the airplane and too many other devices to count. She witnessed the United States' flight to the moon. And she was around during President Kennedy's assassination.

"I lived moderately," she said about living to such a healthy age. "I didn't smoke or drink very often. I have good genes. My family takes everything in stride. We have that attitude: To make the best of everything."

Old friends and new sang "Happy Birthday" in the dining room of Sterling House, ate slices of birthday cake from Schmidt's Bakery and viewed a photo display that a neighbor back in Iowa made for Berquist's 100th birthday.

Celebrating her 102nd birthday, Herdes Berquist, left, shares a laugh with Rose Christensen, who said "I was asking her for some longevity secrets." Berquist celebrated with friends and family Thursday at The Sterling House in Loveland.
(
Jenny Sparks
)

Berquist, her brothers and sisters grew up in Belle Plaine, Iowa. Their parents were Danish and the family didn't speak English until they moved to Belle Plaine because their community in Kimballton, Iowa, were all from Denmark.

Her dad was the manager of a co-op creamery in Belle Plaine. Berquist remembers playing in the ice house next to the creamery. Men cut ice from the Iowa River and stored it in the ice house. Families didn't have refrigerators back then and the ice was sold all year long.

The family owned a horse and buggy and the day her dad purchased a big Reo Touring Car was when Berquist thought, "We are very uptown now."

At Christmas, the family danced around the Christmas tree in the Danish tradition before passing out presents. Her mother baked Danish cookies for two months and invited friends over every night in the weeks before Christmas for wine and treats.

Berquist said she and her siblings got in lots of fights, boys against girls. The family owned one bicycle and it was difficult to decide whose turn it was to ride it.

By comparison, her son Pete Berquist says he and his sister were just angels.

"Yeah right," Herdes said.

Herdes married her husband, John, and they had two children. She lived in Marshalltown before moving to Loveland. John was a chiropractor there. He passed away in 1987.

Pete convinced Herdes to move to Loveland in December 2011.

"She didn't have any family left in Iowa," he said. "We thought it'd be better if she were close to us." Here in Loveland, she can be near her son, Pete, and his wife, Rosie, and two granddaughters. Other grandchildren and great grandchildren are spread out from coast to coast.

"She's so much fun," said Jane Allman, activities director at Sterling House. "That's what I want to be like when I'm 102."

Allman said that when Herdes arrived at Sterling House, Herdes asked Allman to guess her age.